I am an Automotive technician, Independant BMW tech, Factory trained/Certified (would be a Master if i was still at the dealership) but we work on some other European cars, inc, M-B.
I take alot of pride in my work, Im slower than I should be but Its quality first. I put in alot of extra effort, often unnoticed.
Of course there are shops/techs that give the good ones a bad wrap, unfortunatly thats a fact that follows all walks of life.
Alot of folks look down on us or think less of us and our "meanial" jobs too. Especially from european auto owners. Its not often, at least for me, a customer shows an appriciation for our services from them. It is nice, if your happy with your technician, let em know! Or vice versa.
Heres my little rant/list of things your auto tech might find irritating, and makes one less enthused to work on your vehicle....
We appriciate it when your vehicles arnt covered in dirt/trash, inside and out. EX: Would you lay on the floor of your car in 100*F weather with old banana peels and burger wrappers on the floor?
If your experiancing an unfamilur problem, do your best to explain every detail of the problem, we often have to work as "Surlock Holmes" to figure out what the customer means. The better you help us here, the faster we can get it fixed, saving you time and money too. EX: "Car has a vibration" Ok, but you neglected to tell us you ran over a log in the road, we can narrow down issues faster with better details. Anything might be relevent!
Refrain from telling the tech how to do his/her job. No patronizing
(occationally nessisary sometimes?yes)
Make appointments if at all possible. Works out better for all.
Dont shoot the messenger....If you must chew someones butt, make sure your chewing the right one.
We just do as we are told by our foreman, biz owners, service writers.
Alot of us techs dont appriciate the word "MECHANIC", its derogatory. Alot of us invested a ton of our time/money/life into our trade. Technician is the professional name most prefer
Things like grease monkey, mechanic, etc. are disrespectful. Just FYI.
Just wanted to put this out there.